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This Week in History

I’ve always had a strange obsession with history and famous dates. Also, being as educated in random facts as I am, it is my responsibility to freely share some of my scholarship with the public. I’ve chosen a few random events that stood out and now you’re forced to read them.

February 4, 1861 – “Confederacy”

With Abraham Lincoln voted into office, six states would secede from the Union and established a new government – The Confederate States of America – and acknowledge Jefferson Davis as their President. In two short months, confederate soldiers would open fire in South Carolina and send the United States into a Civil War.

February 7, 1964 – “Beatlemania”

Pan Am flight 101 from London Heathrow touched down at New York’s JFK Airport; “Beatlemania” had begun. As the Bieber-haired Brits stepped off the plane and onto American soil for the first time, thousands of screaming fans nearly caused a riot, just to catch a glimpse of the “Fab Four.”

With an estimated 73 million U.S. viewers tuning in to watch their performance on the Ed Sullivan Show, the Beatles helped save America from the darkness of the Kennedy Assassination just months before.

Photo Credit: NevadaMagazine.com

February 8, 1924 – “Lethal Gas”

In February of 1924, Nevada became the first state to use Lethal Gas as a human form of execution. Their first victim, Gee Jon, was placed in an airtight chamber while gas formed by mixing hydrochloric acid and cyanide filled his lungs. After falling unconscious, prisoners would suffer violent convulsions before eventually choking to death.

It wouldn’t be until 1977 that the United States would adopt the Lethal Injection as a means to Capital Punishment.